How to disable auto-play for videos in Facebook for iOS, at least when you aren't on WiFi

Some people don't like when videos auto-play as they scroll past them. Back when Instagram started doing this, I had a feeling Facebook and other social networks wouldn't be far behind and I was right. While Facebook doesn't let you completely disable auto-play for videos, you can at least stop it if you're using cellular data instead of WiFi. Here's how:

Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.

Scroll down and tap on Facebook.

Now tap on Settings.

Under the Video section, turn On the option for Auto-play on WiFi only.

That's all there is to it. At least this can stop Facebook for iOS from eating your data in order to auto-play videos.

Do you like the auto-play feature for videos, even if they're muted by default? I personally don't as I feel it's very distracting when scrolling. I'm interested to know how you guys feel about it too so let me know in the comments!

Reader comments

How to disable auto-play for videos in Facebook for iOS, at least when you aren't on WiFi

I hate this. We have satellite internet at our house which means we're on limited data (we have no other options currently in our subdivision). We only get 15 gigs a month. I'll have to stay off Facebook while at home or just be hyper vigilant that a video isn't streaming in the background eating my data.

Haha, thanks for everyone's pity :-). It is a struggle and a monthly issue for us. No, no Apple TV, no netflix. We have to be very careful with our usage. Before we moved I had "normal" internet and this was quite the wake up call. Satellite internet is an option for those of us that have absolutely no other options. The cable company does run just outside of our subdivision so hopefully one day they'll expand to include us. That would be my true Christmas miracle lol.

I'm not liking it either. I only get 5Gb a month via wifi, and the sneaky muting means I have no clue half the time that ANYTHING is playing. I just want the auto play OFF 100% of the time, regardless of how I am connected (at home via wifi or on the move with prepaid data).

You can turn it completely off with ios 7.1.2. I have unlimited data for both cell and home usage, BUT it slows down on cellular data after 2gb :( (stupid sprint!) I was super happy to find this article and for the option to be able to shut it off completely!

The thing I can't stand the most was how it ate up my mobile data. Not to mention that I don't like being forced into watching someone's video! I think it should be at our discretion (the FB user that is).

Yeah that's the idea. Ads, ads, and more ads. I know they need to make money but they're latest attempts have really been turning me off of Facebook. The constant ads on my wall, now auto playing videos.....I've been using Facebook less and less these days.

Autoplay is terrible. It gives a video fake plays and just annoys users. If I want to watch a video I'll click on it and hit play. Every time I scroll by I have to click on the video that's autoplaying to stop it so I can continue browsing. I've disabled it in my desktop browsers and now it will be disabled on my mobile device iphone. They should at least give the user an option to disable or enable it easily. It's not productive and only pisses people off. If people are interested in watching something, they will watch it. Don't force someone to watch something they don't want to watch.

Absolutely HATE it! Totally distracting and even when I am at home on wifi I don't want to use up bandwidth for all the videos that I scroll past. To pause them you have to click on them and then the mute goes away. YUCK! Hope they take this away.

In the latest update of Facebook there's now a setting to completely disable autoplay of video's. Follow the instructions mentioned in this article, and you'll find three options: 'on', 'only on wifi', 'off'

As an iOS 8 developer, the current betas (Beta 4) show that iOS 8 will bring the ability to completely turn the "feature" off. I hope for the sake of facebook that Apple leaves this feature in place for the official iOS 8 release. So, for the rest of you, you are stuck with WiFi only until this fall. At which point, follow the same steps as mentioned above, but instead of a toggle, find Auto-play and tap on it. Then select "off" and this so called "feature" will be disabled completely.